Spark ignition device for internal combustion engines



Sept. 15, 1959 w. L. MORRISON 2,904,610

SPARK IGNITION DEVICE FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed March 9, 1956 United States Patent ice SPARK IGNITION DEVICE FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Willard L. Morrison, Lake Forest, 111., assignor to The Union Sto'ck Yard and Transit Company of Chicago, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application March 9, 1956, Serial No. 570,603 2 Claims. (Cl. 123-169) My invention relates to improvements in spark ignition device for internal combustion engines and the like and has for one object to provide an ignition device which may be installed in an internal combustion engine as a substitute for the conventional spark plug and which will make it possible to provide a multiplicity of simultaneous ignition sparks spaced about the combustion zone whereby greatly increased rapidity of ignition of the entire combustible charge will result.

Another object of the invention is to provide a multiple spark gap arrangement which is independent of the position of intake and exhaust ports and valves.

Other objects will appear from time to time throughout the specification and claims.

My invention is illustrated more or less diagrammatically in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a vertical section through the upper portion of an engine cylinder with my ignition device in place;

Figure 2 is a plan view in part section of my ignition device.

Like parts are indicated by like characters throughout the specification and drawings.

1 indicates an engine cylinder with piston 2, cylinder head and an exhaust passage 4, controlled by exhaust valve 5, intake passage 6 controlled by intake valve 7. The valve actuating mechanism is not illustrated. The cylinder head 3 defines above the piston any suitable combustion chamber.

11 is an annular chamber or pocket between the cylinder 1 and head 3 adapted to contain an annular ignition ring 12, the inner diameter of which is substantially equal to the inner diameter of the cylinder. The ignition ring 12 is held between a compressible gasket 13 and cylinder head gasket 14 when the cylinder head is in place.

The ignition ring supports a plurality of spark or ignition points arranged in adjacent pairs to define a plurality of separate spark gaps, the sum of the widths of all the spark gaps being less than the distance between any one spark point and the nearest metal of the engine so that when an ignition current is impressed on the system, the spark gaps will simultaneously fire without substantial leakage to the engine as above pointed out.

These spark points are defined, since in the preferred illustration I show five spark gaps, by four U-shaped conductor members 29 buried in the ignition ring, the ends 6 30 of the conductor members where they project toward the inner periphery of the ring forming the spark points. At each end of the series are similar spark points formed on conductor members 19 and 20 which extend through Patented Sept. 15, 1959 the ring. The conductor 19 has a contact plate 21 which engages and is grounded on the engine. The conductor 20 has a contact plate 22 out of contact with the engine but contacted by a conductor pin 23 held in a threaded plug 24 threaded in the engine cylinder, the pin being insulated from the plug and the cylinder by insulation 25 with a contact head 26 extending out for connection with any suitable source of ignition current.

When a suitable high tension ignition current is impressed on the conductor 26 by any suitable means in consonance with engine operation, an electric discharge will take place between each pair of opposed spark points traveling generally along the inner periphery of the surface of the ignition ring, the spark points terminating adjacent that surface. The current passing from the conductor 26 at one end of the system to ground at the other. Since the sum of the distances between the ignition points is less than the distance from any one of those ignition points to any grounded element in the engine, there will be no danger of a spark jumping from one or other of the spark or ignition points to an undesired ground. The result is that in effect a ring of ignition areas is defined by the inner periphery of the insulating ring so that ignition will take place generally about the outer periphery of the combustion space concentric with the piston and thus efiective ignition and combustion may be accomplished.

I claim:

1. A spark ignition device for internal combustion engines comprising an annular insulating ring, a plurality of conducting segments embedded in the ring spaced from the inner periphery thereof, each segment terminating at each end in spark extensions which extend radially inwardly to project from the inner periphery of the segment, the spark extensions on the adjacent ends of adjacent segments spaced apart and terminating adjacent but inwardly of the inner periphery of the ring whereby a spark may traverse the gap between them, means for passing a high tension current in series through the system of segments and spark points.

2. In combination in an internal combustion engine, an annular insulating ring, a plurality of conducting segments embedded in the ring spaced from the inner periphery thereof, each segment terminating at each end in spark extensions which extend radially inwardly to project from the inner periphery of the segment, the spark extensions on the adjacent ends of adjacent segments spaced apart and terminating adjacent but inwardly of the inner periphery of the ring whereby a spark may traverse the gap between them, means for passing a high tension current in series through the system of segments and spark points, intake and exhaust valves located above the plane of the spark gaps and a piston located below the plane of the spark gaps.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,476,252 Hempel Dec. 4, 1923 1,518,248 Broluska Dec. 9, 1924 2,775,234 Smits Dec. 25, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 339,182 France Nov. 23, 1903 

